Not quite what we say.

[Jellybean]

You know how foreign language books give you key phrases to use in other countries. Well, often they are phrases that automatically make you look like a foreigner. For example, my friend from Europe was taught that when you meet an English speaker you say "How do you do?" Most people say How are you - or in Boston where I'm from it's pronounced how ah ya?

If I look in an ASL book am I going to encounter signed phrases like that- useful, but not the normal way of saying something?

Just curious.

 

[Wheelin Rev]

Good question... I'm curious too because I was looking at this book yesterday at Books-A-Million:

Amazon.com: The American Sign Language Phrase Book: Books: Lou Fant

Dave

 

[Your Mom]

Thats why you should stray away from phrase books, and rather learn individual words so you can put the words together how you would chose to. Its not like in a different language where persons who speak ASL greet each other different.

I find phrase books in general to be annoying, just learn the individual words so you can greet people how you normally would. If you normally say whats up, learn the sign for whats up, or if you normally say "hey how are you" just learn the sign for those words.

Because ASL is an american language you dont need to vary you speaking style.